Syncretic Forms of Spiritual Healing Practices Among the Muslim Gurage of Southwestern Ethiopia

Journal of Philosophy, Culture and Religion www.iiste.org ISSN 2422-8443 An International Peer-reviewed Journal Vol.39, 2018 Syncretic Forms of Spiritual Healing Practices Among the Muslim Gurage of Southwestern Ethiopia Prof. G. Jai Kishan Akmel Mohammed Research Director, Department of Anthropology , Andhra University Abstract At the time when Islam was propagated into the Sabat Bet Gurage, the second and third generations of the Abret shrine had been accommodated some elements of the traditional belief system and they adopted it into the frame of Sufi Islam. The main focus of this paper is to examine the processes how the indigenous healing practices were accommodated into the frame of Sufi Islam and the mechanisms applied for the persistency of the spiritual healing power of the leaders of Abret shrine. The religious leaders of the Abret shrine have been claiming that they have an extraordinary power to cure diseases which were previously believed to be healed only through performing traditional ritual rites. They claim that they had received baraka (blessing of the Prophet) that ensued from the common genealogical line descended to the Qurayyish tribe of the prophet Mohammed. And, it is believed the baraka that the Abret leaders possess has caused for the sacredness of the earth sample and spring water around the shrine that are used for healing purposes. Thus, this paper underscores the processes of the Islamization of indigenous healing practices and how ritually sanctified diseases were defined under the frame of Sufi Islam. Introduction: The ethno -history of the Sabat Bet Gurage people The term Gurage is used as a common name for the three major politico-linguistic groups to whom they long inhabited the Gurage land. The Gurage ethnic groups are one of the Semitic language speaking peoples which inhabit the southwestern part of Ethiopia where great Cushitic ethnic diversity is prevailing. As it is argued by most scholars the language of the Gurage was originated from one of the Afro-Asiatic language families i.e. Semitic language. The Gurage ethnic groups are divided into three dialectically varied sub-groups: Northern, Eastern and Western Gurages. Northern Gurage is a region where for the most part is inhabited by Sodo (Kistane) Gurage and speaks Sodign. Eastern Gurage is populated predominantly by the Silte whose dialect resembles more Amharic language than the rest of two groups. And Western Gurage is the home of several sub-groups to whom are called jointly Sebat Bet Gurage (which is literary meant Seven Houses or Tribes of Gurage) —Ezha, Geta, Meq’werqwer, Muhre and Aklil, Endegane, Yegre-Anghet Cheha and Yinor (Gebreyesus 1991). Following the downfall of the Dergu military regime and the coming to power of the EPRDF (Ethiopian People Revolutionary Democratic Front) in 1991, the Gurage people are organized as one of the thirteen zones which are constituted by the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region (SNNPR). The Gurage zone is named after the Gurage people, whose homeland lies in this zone. The Gurage zone is bordered on the southeast by Hadiya and Yem special Woreda (district), on the west, north and east by the Oromiya Regional State and on the south by Silte Zone. This newly formed political administration includes the northern and Western Gurage. However, the Silte ethnic groups were voted for a referendum in 2000 unanimously to break away from the Gurage zone and formed their own administrative units, the Silte zone within SNNPR. Based on the 2007 censes, the Gurage zone has a total population of 1,279,646, of whom 622,078 are men and 657,568 women, with an area of 5,893.40 square kms. Gurage has a population density of 217.13 whereas 119,822 or 9.36% are urban inhabitants. The majority of the inhabitants were reported as Islamic religious followers, with 51.02% of the population confess that belief, while 41.91% practice Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity, 1.9% were Protestants and 0.95% Catholic (CSA 2007). From the list stated above, the focus of this undertaking is specifically bent on the Western Gurage wherein Sebat Bet Gurage is inhabited. Some of the major economic activities of the Sabat Bet Gurage ethnic groups include agriculture, animal farming, trade and small house engineering. Especially, the Gurages are known for their extensive cultivation of Ensete (false banana or Ensete edulis in its scientific name) which is a stable food for many people in the region across deep to the south and central Africa (Shake, 1969). In addition, other groups of Ethiopian nationalities are recognizing the Gurage ethnic groups as the most industrious ethnic groups by. This paper is primarily based on the empirical data that has been gathered from September 2014-to October 2015 through applying various methods of deep interviews and serious of observations at the shrine of Abret. In a nutshell, the purpose of this paper is to highlight the syncretic processes between different religious denominations that made for the constitution of a new spiritual healing institution of ritually sanctified illnesses. And, methodologically the study also draws attention to the persistent healing practices and the preponderant position that is harbored by the spiritual healers who claim in one way or another, have a close attachment with the leaders of the Abret shrine. For the purpose of this study the concept of syncretism is found fitted through conceiving it could press out the processes of the incorporation of indigenous healing practices to the frame of 36 Journal of Philosophy, Culture and Religion www.iiste.org ISSN 2422-8443 An International Peer-reviewed Journal Vol.39, 2018 Sufi Islam. The etymological definition of the term syncretism that is given by the free encyclopedia defines; it is the combining of different, often mutually exclusive beliefs that amalgamate practices of diverse religious and traditional customs. Processes of accommodating traditional healing practices into Islam Before the advent of Christianity and Islam in the Gurage land, the different tribal groups of the Sebat Bet Gurage were worshipers of traditional religions. The three main indigenous cults that had been worshipped by the Sebat Bet Gurage were Waq , Bozhe and Demwamit. People of the Sebat Bet Gurage worshipped the male cult of Ye Chaha Waq’ , which they believed was more powerful and considered as the god of war. As such, they believed that it could protect them from external attack. According to Shack (1969) Waq was the main deity whose spiritual favors to enhance the prestige and valour of tribes who honour him and respect his supernatural powers. The second ritual cult in the Sebat Bet Gurage is called as Boẑa ( thunder god ) and its representative was known as Gwetakiya who was living in a sacred place of Inangara and his assistants were known as Maga . The third ritual cult that was represented by the goddess in the Sebat Bet Gurage is D ᵉmuwamit which was the focus of religious activities for Gurage women. The characteristic features: its structure and organizations are the opposite of those of the male cult of Og’et. The Gurage concept of D ᵉmuwamit is realized in the manifold expressions of her supernatural power to inflict harm; the consequences evoked if anyone fails in his or her social and ritual duties are epitomized and manifested in the ritual illness of the Zitȧnȧ . Since the second half of the nineteenth century the Sufi Islam has been propagated into the Sabat Bet Gurage at the times of the second and third generations of the Abret shrine, sheyikh Bushra and sheyikh Budalla respectively. During this time indigenous religious elements which were found accommodated to the Sufi Islam were taken over in their syncretic forms. The cult of Waq (sky god) that was the central force uniting Gurage men of all tribes was Syncretized into the frame of the Qadiryya teriqa of the Sufi order. Accordingly, the founders of the Abret shrine, sheyikh Bushra and sheyikh Budalla were appropriated the indigenous religious and healing practices which were related to Waq into the structure of Sufi Islam. The willpower of a spiritual healing force that was adopted from the indigenous belief systems was one of the major criteria to claim the office of a sheyikh in the Sufi order. This extraordinary healing power was mostly manifested by the performance of a karama (miracle). Thus the primary focus of the oral narratives that share with the miracles of the Abret Sheikh was rotating around his healing ability. Most informants prefer to narrate the healing power of Sheikh Budalla through mentioning the types of sickness that ranging from deafness to mental illness and which were eventually healed by him. There are numbers of oral traditions that handle on the karama (miracles) which were conceived to be executed by the Abret Sheikh. One can reason that the performance of karma can be seen as the trademark of the Abret Sheyihk through analyzing the manner how the aspirants ( murid ) of the Abret Sheikh express their sheyikh’s extraordinary power when they narrate about his spiritual leadership qualities. The Abret murids had been visited sheyikh Budalla at times of health crisis through seeking his spiritual healing power. The local narratives contended that the healing service of the Abret Sheyikh was not restricted solely to the Muslims, but there were numbers of Christian Gurages who came to him and cured of their ailments. There was some other way of healing from physical or mental illnesses in addition to the personal treatments and Duwa of the Abret Sheikh. The murids collected a sample earth (locally termed as worq afer ) from the soil where the Abret Sheikh walked and they drank or rushed it on the part of their sick body, believing that it could cure them from diverse cases of diseases.

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